x x a X 4.

1. The Assyrian cáme down like a wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts weré gleaming in púrple and gold:
And the sheen of the speárs was like stárs on the séa,
When the blue wave rolls níghtly on deep Galilee.

2. Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green, That host with their banners at sunset were seen: Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn is blown, That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

3. For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass'd;

And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still.

4. And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide;
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride:
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

5. And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and rust on his mail;
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.'

6. And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal,

And the might of the Gentile unsmote by the sword
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord. Byron.

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,

The lowing herds wind slowly o'er the lea,

The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

OTTAVA RIMA.

Arrived there, a prodigious noise he hears,
Which suddenly along the forest spread;
Whereat from out his quiver he prepares
An arrow for his bow, and lifts his head;

Gray.

2

And, lo! a monstrous herd of swine appears.
And onward rushes with tempestuous tread,
And to the fountain's brink precisely poúrs,
So that the giant 's joined by all the boars.

Morgante Moggiore (Ld. Byron's Trans.)

TERZA RIMA.

The Spirit of the fervent days of old,

When words were things that came to pass, and Thought Flashed o'er the future, bidding men behold

Their children's children's doom already brought

Forth from the abyss of Time which is to be,
The Chaos of events where lie half-wrought
Shapes that must undergo mortality:

What the great seers of Israel wore within,
That Spirit was on them and is on me;
And if, Cassandra-like, amidst the din
Of conflicts, none will hear, or hearing heed
This voice from out the Wilderness, the sin
Be theirs, and my own feelings be my meed.
The only guerdon I have ever known.

It hath been through all ages ever seen,
That with the prize of arms and chivalrie
The prize of beauty still hath joined been,
And that for reason's special privitie;
For either doth ón other much rely,

For he meseems most fit the fair to serve
That can hér best defend from villanie;

And she most fit his service doth deserve,

That fairest is, and from her faith will never swerve.

Spenser.

The measures x x a and x a x are often intermixed in this formula, for the omission of a single syllable will change a line from the x x a to x a x.

I have not given all the varieties of lines that occur under the different varieties of measure, but enough has been given for the exercise of the pupil.

If the pupil has any difficulty in scanning a line, he should determine whether the measure is dissyllabic or trissyllabic in the neighborhood of it, and that will be a guide, as the same measure generally prevails through the piece.

See Latham's Gram.

MUSICAL PAUSES.

The Musical Pauses are two-the cesural pause, which divides the line into two parts; and the final pause, which closes the verse. The sole end of these pauses is melody of

verse.

The sentential pauses are the same in verse as in prose, and marked by the same characters.

The cesural pause may be placed in any part of the verse or line, but it has the finest effect upon the melody, when placed after the second or third measure or in the middle of the third.

After the second measure

"In what retreat, inglorious or unknown,
Did genius sleep, when dullness seized the throne."

After the third measure

"O say what stranger cause, yet unexplored,
Could make a gentle belle reject a lord?"

In the middle of the third measure-
"Great are his perils in this stormy time,
Who rashly ventures on a sea of rhyme."

In these examples there is great melody, but not the same degree in each. The third example is the most melodious, in which the pause is in the middle of the third measure and consequently in the middle of the verse or line.

EXPRESSION.

Expression consists in such a choice and distribution of poetic measures as are best adapted to the subject, and best calculated to impress sentiments upon the mind. Those poetic measures which end in an accented syllable, are the most forcible. Hence the measure xa is best adapted to solemn and sublime subjects. This is the measure of the Epic, of poems on grave and moral subjects, of Elegies, &c.

Poets sometimes take the liberty of placing two accented syllables together, in this measure, which adds much to the solemnity of the movement.

"While the clear sun, rejoicing still to rise,

In pomp rolls round immeasurable skies." Dwight. The two accented syllables, rolls round, expresses, beautifully, the majesty of the sun in his course.

RULES FOR READING VERSE.

"1. Words should be pronounced as in prose and in conversation; for reading is but rehearsing another's conversation.

"2. The emphasis should be observed as in prose. The voice should bound from accent to accent, and no stress should be laid on little unimportant words, nor on weak syllables.

"3, The sentential pauses should be observed as in prose; these are not affected by the kind of writing, being regulated entirely by the sense. But as the cesural and final pauses are designed to increase the melody of verse, the strictest attention must be paid to them in reading. They mark a suspension of voice without rising or falling.

"To read prose well, it is necessary to understand what is read; and poetry well, it is further necessary to understand the structure of verse." 99 Webster's Imp. Grammar.

THE END.